PNG: 134 women nominate at closing of Election nominations date

28th April, 2017. Only 2614 candidates have nominated to contest the 2017 National Election, the official preliminary figures released last night showed.

The PNG Electoral Commission had expected 4068 candidates to nominate but at 4.06pm when nominations closed, the remaining 1454 had filled in Form 23 had failed to nominate. Only 134 are women candidates with 54 in Southern region, 35 in Momase, 26 in the Highlands and 19 in New Guinea Islands.

The 2480 men candidates come from the Highlands 825, Momase 684, Southern 662 and New Guinea Islands 309.

These figures were released at 7pm. Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato said these were preliminary figures and the official count would be released on Monday. Mr Gamato said the Highlands region recorded the highest field of candidates (men and women) 851 followed by Momase 719, Southern 716 and New Guinea Islands -328

In the Highlands Region, Eastern Highlands Province had the highest number of candidates with 384, Jiwaka with 133, Southern Highlands with 116, Hela 89, Chimbu 56 and Enga 18.

In Momase, Morobe had 227 candidates, Madang 205, East Sepik 110 and West Sepik 92.

Southern Region also fielded a lot of candidates with Central Province leading with 133, Gulf also had 133, National Capital District 128, Western province 99, Northern 95 and Milne Bay 72.

For New Guinea Islands East New Britain recorded 79 candidates, West New Britain 68, Bougainville 68, Manus 52 and New Ireland 42.

Mr Gamato said the Electoral Commission had a few hiccups in provinces like Enga where information was not available by close of nomination and last night due to communication difficulties.

“They were still experiencing some communication problems so we did have not received their full list,” he added.